Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Qatar, [a] officially the State of Qatar, [b] is a country in West Asia.It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares its sole land border with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Persian Gulf.
Before the emergence of petrol-based industry, Qatar was a poor pearl diving country. The exploration of oil and gas fields began in 1939. [16] [17] In 1973, oil production and revenues increased dramatically, moving Qatar out of the ranks of the world's poorest countries and providing it with one of the highest per capita incomes in the world.
Qatar is an Islamic state with multi-religious minorities like most of the Persian Gulf countries with waves of migration over the last 30 years. The official state religion is Sunni Islam . The community is made up of Sunni and Shi’a Muslims , Christians , Hindus , and small groups of Buddhists and Baha’is . [ 29 ]
The Qatar Financial Information Unit (QFIU) is a Qatari government regulatory agency responsible for financial intelligence efforts to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism. Like other national Financial Intelligence Units (FIU) around the world, it requires banks, investment companies, insurers and other financial institutions to ...
Al Da'asa, a settlement located on the western coast of Qatar, is the most extensive Ubaid site in the country. It was excavated by the 1961 Danish team. [12] The site is theorized to have accommodated a small seasonal encampment, possibly a lodging for a hunting-fishing-gathering group who made recurrent visits. [13]
Qatar's constitution, approved in April 2003 by popular referendum, has created a legislative body to be two thirds elected by universal suffrage, and one third appointed by the Emir. According to the constitution, the legislature will have three powers: to approve (but not prepare) the national budget; to monitor the performance of ministers ...
The state of human rights in Qatar is a concern for several non-governmental organisations, such as the Human Rights Watch (HRW), which reported in 2012 that hundreds of thousands of mostly South Asian migrant workers in construction in Qatar risk serious exploitation and abuse, sometimes amounting to forced labour.
Foreign relations of Qatar is conducted through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Arab states were among the first to recognize Qatar, and the country gained admittance to the United Nations and the Arab League after achieving independence in 1971. The country was an early member of OPEC and a founding member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).